Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Convenient the Ethics Committee is closed.

From Congress Daily:

House Majority Leader DeLay told reporters today he has instructed his staff to contact the Ethics Committee to clarify his role in two trips he made overseas that may have violated House ethics rules. "I'm anxious to discuss them," DeLay said of the trips. "There's nothing sinister about this." However, the Ethics Committee is not fully operating since it failed to approve its internal rules last Friday because of a partisan deadlock over GOP-supported changes to ethics rules at the beginning of the 109th Congress. It is unclear in what capacity the Ethics Committee could provide guidance to DeLay, although he said he would welcome discussions with Ethics Chairman Hastings and ranking member Alan Mollohan, D-W.Va. DeLay singled out recent reports in The Washington Post that implied he may have voted against gambling legislation opposed by a group linked to a conservative think tank that paid for one of his trips overseas.

DeLay said the articles lacked "any factual basis" and said they used "implication and innuendo" to draw conclusions. DeLay, in turn, said Democrats are infusing the ethics process with partisanship and engaging in the "politics of personal destruction" to bring him down. "In recent years, there has been a growing frenzy surrounding the Ethics Committee, with Democrats and their allies attempting to use it as a partisan tool for partisan ends," he said. "It's very unfortunate that Democrats have no agenda. All they can do is carry on in the House and try to burn it down in order to gain power." DeLay maintained that he has never violated House rules or ethics rules.